Hands of time frozen for an 'innocent' man

Time seems to accelerate as we get older.

For Benjamín LaGuer, it crashed in the summer of 1983 in Leominster when he was indicted, and later convicted, on a charge of rape.

Since then, he has repeatedly maintained his innocence, even before the state Parole Board that could have granted him conditional freedom had he admitted to the heinous crime.

Now 43, time is rushing forward as he enters the years of middle age, a time when many people find comfort in wisdom. But for LaGuer, there hasn't been peace ever since he lost his youth through 25 years at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.

He has fought the conviction over the years, charging that evidence was manipulated, disappeared and reappeared. His DNA was connected to the crime, but LaGuer points to that as further evidence of evidence tampering.

One point of contention has been a set of fingerprints from the base of the telephone in the victim's apartment - she had been tied up with the telephone cord - because they do not match LaGuer's fingerprints.

The report on the fingerprints did not appear until 2001.

LaGuer's lawyer, James Rehnquist, son of the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, had argued before the state Appeals Court last year that the fingerprint report could prove exculpatory.

When the Appeals Court didn't agree, Rehnquist took the matter up with the state Supreme Judicial Court, which this month decided to review LaGuer's case.

The crime didn't occur in her district nor did the man convicted of it live there, but for state Rep. Ellen Story, D-Amherst, the story of this particular Latino is one that reads like others across the country.

That's why Story wrote to DNA experts across the country last summer, asking them to review the DNA evidence that appears to have cemented LaGuer's guilt.

Convicted of rape in 1984 by an all-white jury, LaGuer has said repeatedly that it is a case of mistaken identity.

Just as adamantly as LaGuer says he is innocent, Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte says he is guilty, and proof of that is in the DNA.

For years LaGuer had been seeking a DNA test to clear his name. When he finally was tested in 2002, the DNA matched evidence in police custody, which raised more questions than it answered, according to his defenders.

Story said his case should be examined again because of the promise of a conviction based on beyond a shadow of a doubt is in doubt itself.

"It appears to me that an extraordinary injustice was done and I am delighted that the highest court in the commonwealth has agreed to take a look at the facts of his case," Story said. The Amherst lawmaker has been a determined supporter of securing a new trial for LaGuer. Other politicians backing the effort include state Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield, and Boston City Councilor Félix Arroyo.

"Based on the materials I have received to date it is my opinion that the accuracy and reliability of the DNA testing performed are highly questionable," wrote Dr. Theodore D. Kessis, of Applied DNA Resources in Columbus, Ohio, in response to Story's queries to forensic DNA experts about the LaGuer case.

In a recent letter, LaGuer recalled a childhood cartoon to make a sobering point.

"For 23 years, in all honesty," he wrote, "I have felt like the Roadrunner to Worcester D.A. John J. Conte Wile-E-Coyote. Despite his roadside gadgets, his sleight of hands with the evidence, I have kept running for my integrity and biography."

Natalia Muñoz can be reached at nmunoz@repub.com